Te Mängai Päho News Current Affairs Contract

Te Mängai Päho Awards News and Current Affairs Contract

At its meeting on 6 April 2004, the Board of Te Mängai Päho awarded a two year contract for providing news and current affairs to UMA Broadcasting Limited operating as Radio Waatea. The contract is currently held by Mai Media Limited trading as Ruia Mai.

"We used an exhaustive process to analyse the proposals from the two competing groups to arrive at our decision" said Wira Gardiner, Chair of Te Mängai Päho.

The Board had convened an assessment panel to review the proposals. Criteria used included: business viability, historical relevance, technical and production elements, and Mäori language quality.

The assessment panel ranked both submissions closely and advised the Board on the results of their review.

"We took account of the work done by the assessment panel" said Mr Gardiner.

In view of the closeness of the submissions, the Board invited both parties to make a presentation. Each group was given 20 minutes to present and 20 minutes to respond to Board questions.

Mr Gardiner said that the Board acknowledged that Ruia Mai had pioneered the development of practices in the presentation of Mäori news and current affairs. "However, in the end our decision came down to determining which proposal aligned most closely with the kaupapa of Te Mängai Päho and provided a vision for the language that would attract a Mäori audience."

The new contract will take effect from 1 July 2004.

Wira Gardiner

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